This is not a manifesto.

What is Wine Ophelia looking for in a wine? Authenticity. Palatability. Done.

There is a good bit of chatter these days on the internet about “Natural Wine.” What is it exactly? How does one define it? Does anyone really care? I really enjoy what many people are calling “natural wine.” But I have to say that I've had a lot of so-called natural wines that taste like shit. Really. Not that I've tasted shit, but I can imagine... Anyway, what I look for in a wine is something as authentic

authentic |ôˈθentik| (abbr.: auth.)
adjective
1 of undisputed origin; genuine : the letter is now accepted as an authentic document | authentic 14th-century furniture. See note at genuine .
• made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully resembles an original : the restaurant serves authentic Italian meals | every detail of the movie was totally authentic.• based on facts; accurate or reliable : an authentic depiction of the situation.• (in existentialist philosophy) relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life. (*added on 1/31/12)

...as possible that still tastes delicious to me. I just don't want the winemaker to haul out the chemistry set to give me a monotonous giant fruit and alcohol bomb that tastes the same year after year after boring year. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Snoozefest.

That being said, some people who have too much time on their hands and who like to hear themselves talk (and they are the only ones who do) say that wine itself isn't natural. We've grafted onto the rootstock. We add things to it and mess with it. Whateverthefuck. I don't care. You can nit pick a thing to death no matter what the subject and I don't have time for these nit pickers. Go find a monkey somewhere and have at it. What I'm after is something as authentic (*see above) as possible that is still palatable to me. I love to see what has happened in the field during the year. I want to taste the extraction of lack thereof. Don't mask it with oak. Balance it out? Sure? Give it a little structure? Sure. But I want to experience what the grapes experienced. I like a minimal hand in the winemaking process. Guide it along, but don't intervene overmuch. Don't let it die. Dont' let it get a brett infection. Don't let the VA take over. Please, for the love of all things good and decent, don't let the VA take over! Ick!

I think that's all I really have to say. I'm looking for a passionate grape grower, a winemaker who wants the life of the grape that year to show in the bottle, year after interesting year, without adding too much to it. The end.